By Kim Young-gyo HONG KONG, July 21 (Yonhap) -- China ranked the world's No. 2 in terms of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals last year, spurred by increasing Chinese interest in acquiring foreign firms, an industry group said Thursday.

The value of total M&A deals struck by Chinese companies amounted to US$169.6 billion in 2010, more than double the $65.3 billion in the previous year, Beijing-based China Enterprise Federation said.

The figure was equivalent to 7 percent of the total global volume worth $2.44 trillion. China followed the U.S., whose M&A deals reached $822 billion, or 34 percent of the global total.

Chinese companies struck 2,556 deals last year, compared with 255 deals a year earlier, according to the federation. Deals in the energy sector made up the largest proportion of China's total with 182 transactions worth $23.2 billion.

In recent years, Chinese companies have focused on foreign companies in the natural resources area in a bid to power the largest energy consuming country in the world, said accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

On Wednesday, a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd. said it agreed to buy Canadian oil-sands producer Opti Canada Inc. for US$2.1 billion. It was the third overseas acquisition made by China's state-run producer of offshore crude oil this year.

PwC said other industries are also starting to attract Chinese attention, including technology, manufacturing and services, as more Chinese firms are looking for technology and intellectual property rights to take their manufacturing processes to the next level.